


Reunions

by scifinut



Category: Torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-08
Updated: 2011-09-08
Packaged: 2017-10-23 12:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/250522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifinut/pseuds/scifinut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of the events of Children of Earth, Jack attempts to find a way to make things right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunions

Jack's mind reeled. Ianto was gone, and that was just the start. He had killed his grandson. He could try to justify what he had done to Alice, but in the end there would be no reconciliation with her. He knew she'd never forgive him, no matter what he said or did.

With a single call, he made arrangements for everything he had to do. It was simple enough. He had died in a national disaster, he had been in the room with the 456. He had helped defeat them. the government was more than willing to accommodate Jack's request that the remains be released to him instead of the alternative. And the best part was that nobody would know, not even Gwen. Especially not Gwen. She'd never forgive him for denying grieving relatives the last comfort.

Finding a ship was a simple process too. With all of Torchwood's resources and access to UNIT's files, finding someone to sell him a small starhopper was easy. Money was no issue either, he'd been collecting money from the Crown for over 100 years and didn't spend much on anything. The only trick was finding the Doctor, and that was something that took some doing. In the end, it was almost six months before he even had a lead, and then there was the issue of Gwen. He couldn't just leave her all alone with the hope of things going back to normal. At this point they never would. He had to say his goodbye. And when it was done, he went back to his ship. Back to his love.

The TARDIS was hanging around in space, charging itself up. The Doctor had realized recently that heading back to the Rift in Cardiff was a bad idea, it would usually end up in some sort of problem. Actually, heading back to Earth in general did that, especially during the early 21st century. But now there was something zipping around the TARDIS, it seemed almost like a puppy dancing around the door waiting to be let in. He opened comm channels, waiting for some sort of a hail. There was nothing.

"To whoever's out there, hello!" His greeting was cheerful, even though he had no idea who was there. "I'm guessing that since I haven't been threatened you're not here to hurt me, and since you've not left yet, I'm guessing that you know who I am. Now, who are you?"

There was a long period of silence around the comms while the small ship kept darting around. "Or maybe you're just trying to figure me out. That's fine too. Let me know what you think and I might let you know how wrong you are about it all."

There was a terrible whining noise in the air, followed by a few seconds of static crackling before the sound cleared. "Doc, how've you been?"

The voice was so familiar that the Doctor couldn't help but break into a huge grin. It said a lot that the voice gave him cause for surprise, he hadn't been able to detect anything, and the TARDIS hadn't reacted to his presence. "Jack! What's this new little deathtrap of yours about?" He looked down at the readouts, taking a closer look at Jack's ship. It was a short range system hopper, not designed to head out into deep space or unstable areas like he was in right now. "If you needed a ride somewhere I'd have been happy to pick you up." He shook his head. Jack still seemed unconcerned as ever with his personal safety.

"It's been tough back on Earth. You've missed a lot." Jack's voice held a slight waver in it, but remained strong. "I needed some time to start to heal." He sighed, and the speakers in the TARDIS crackled with the wind over the microphone. "It's hard to track you down, but it felt real good doing it the old fashioned way."

The Doctor couldn't help but be worried. Earth wasn't supposed to be tough for another few decades yet, what could possibly have happened already? Obviously something that hadn't made it into any of the histories, or he would have been there. "So this is a social call then? You picked an awfully strange place for it." The lack of immediate response on the other end set his nerves on edge. "Or it's not a social call." Still no response. "Jack, what's going on? Are you alright?"

Jack's mind reeled. What could he possibly say? Tell the truth, and scare the Doctor away before he even got to see him, or lie and make him upset with the lying? There was always parsing the truth, filtering it, but what could he say without arousing suspicion? And that was always the important part. "It's been tough. I'm okay, Doc. You know me, I'll survive anything." He paused to take another deep breath. "Truth is, I've come for a few reasons. I wanted to see you again, and I need your help. You know of a lot more out of the way places than I do at the moment." And that was just what he needed. Something that was out of the way, something that specialized in things better left alone. "Is there a planet nearby where we could meet face to face?"

The pain in Jack's voice was evident. It was something he never could hide well, and the Doctor had known him long enough to be able to read his voice well. Something was very wrong. He wondered about his team back on Earth, but decided that asking the questions about Torchwood could wait until he could see Jack's face. "Sure, there's plenty of places nearby where we can breathe. Pick one and I'll meet you there." He frowned. Something was very wrong, and that much was obvious, but how much of it was an actual problem and how much was him reading too much into Jack's tone of voice and imagining the worst? There was only one way to know, and that was to follow the small ship out of the anomaly and to the nearest world, a few hours trip away.

An hour into the trip the Doctor was pacing the control room, worried. There had been no word from Jack since he had headed in the direction of a planet, and the silence was worse than anything he could imagine. "Jack, are you alright? You're awfully quiet over there. What did you need from me, anyway?"

The silence on the comms only made his anxiety levels higher. "Are you still alive over there? Okay, stupid question. If you weren't, what would it matter? The ship would be on autopilot and you'd just come back anyway. And if you were dead, it's not like you'd be able to answer me. So what is going on with you? You're silent, which is odd for you unless you're watching someone else, and you're not. There's only one life sign on the ship...and I suppose that I could have just checked that readout to know if you were still alive."

"Doctor, I'm alive." The sound was barely a whisper.

"Jack?"

Jack chuckled a bit. "No, I'm the tooth fairy. Who else?" He had spent the majority of the first leg of this trip cradling his cargo and trying to keep from crying. It hadn't worked, and now the Doctor was upset and talkative, and Jack knew from experience that he wouldn't be quiet unless Jack could hold his own end of the conversation. That was a task that would be made more difficult by the fact that he didn't want the Doctor knowing how much pain he was in until they arrived at the planet and Jack could show him everything in person. "I'm okay, Doc. I'm still healing from what I left behind." And what I'm bringing along.

"I'm here if you need to talk." The Doctor's hearts were strong, but this man was slowly breaking them. He could feel the pain in Jack's voice, and he was certain he knew what some of it was from. It was a pain they could share. Doomed to outlive everyone they loved, but Jack's curse was so much worse than his own. "Just...if you need it." There was so much more he wished he could say, but he wasn't certain as to why Jack had come all this way to find him only to sit in silence, and he didn't want to say the wrong thing.

"Thanks."

The last hour and a half of the trip was spent in silence again. The Doctor paced around his control room, wondering what was wrong with Jack, his mind going to so many bizarre ideas that he wasn't sure he'd ever know where they came from. Jack kept his arms wrapped tightly around his cargo, the autopilot set to notify him when he needed to head back to the cockpit to land the ship.

As they landed in a forgotten plain of a long-abandoned planet, Jack steeled himself. He had to do this, had to convince the Doctor that it was what he needed. When he saw the man emerge from the TARDIS, it was the Doctor he'd known most recently, and his heart leapt at the sight of the pinstripe suit and tousled brown hair. "Doctor!" he yelled, running the few yards between them and throwing himself into the Time Lord's arms. If he clung on a bit too tightly, or held the embrace for a few seconds too long, nobody commented.

"It's good to see you, Jack. You're looking well." There was a lump in the Doctor's throat that he couldn't get rid of.

"Doctor, I need your help." Jack stepped back away and stood up straight, as though he were ready to fight or run. "I know...you're not going to like it. But I need this. I wouldn't ask it if it wasn't important." He looked down at the ground. "I can't do it alone."

"Do what?" The Doctor stepped forward, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder, which only caused him to tense up. "What's going on? What happened back on Earth that made you run so far from it?"

Jack looked up, his eyes locking on to the Doctor's and holding the gaze. "They came back. They came to take the children. The government tried to kill my team, destroyed Torchwood. They tried to cover it up, they were going to give them the children! We had to go in and confront them, the 456, and it happened." His composure was crumbling quickly. "Nobody was supposed to be hurt. Nobody was supposed to die. We were saving the children. But they still died. Hundreds of them, and it was my fault. And I lived. I killed them. The people I loved. I destroyed their lives." He shook off the hand on his shoulder and turned his back to the Doctor to calm himself. "I have to make it better. I can't live with that alone."

"Who are the 456?" The Doctor's voice was gentle, not at all accusatory. "I've never heard that name."

"It's what we call them. They came in the 50s, took kids and gave us a cure for the flu. Breathe poison, and they take the kids...god only knows what they do with them. They wanted to take Steven..." his voice broke and a tear escaped from his eye, trailing a path down one cheek. "I had to use him." He turned back to the Doctor, taking the small step to hold onto him for support. "I had to use him to destroy them. I killed my own grandson. My only grandson."

His arms wrapped around Jack, holding him steady and rubbing along his back. He was speechless. Saying it was okay would only make Jack make upset, and pointing out that Jack was okay would only achieve the same effect. Jack would always be okay. He knew that. "I'm right here, Jack. Tell me what I can do to help."

"Bring them back. I need them back." Jack's voice was a desperate whisper. "I need to make it better with them." He clung to the man in front of him, the only hope he had left in the entirety of creation. The Doctor hadn't been the one to give him this curse of unending life, but he knew places that did things, could get them there and get it done.

The Doctor had to fight hard to keep himself from reeling away from Jack. Had he just said what he thought he said? He wanted them back? There was a silence as he thought of what he was going to say. "I'm not a miracle worker, Jack. That has happened. I can't go change it. I can't bring back the dead." Certainly some people could, but reanimating a corpse was simple. The hard part was keeping it alive after the bodily functions had stopped and getting it back to being a functioning being. The human brain wasn't designed to be turned off and on, and it didn't take well to a hard reboot such as death.

Jack pulled from the Doctor, grabbing his arm and dragging the man to his ship. "I have them in here. Preserved. Safely kept. I know you can find people who can help me. Please, Doctor, I'm begging you. I need to make things right with Alice. And I need Ianto. I promised him...I can't break that promise. I gave my word."

"What did you promise him, Jack?" His voice was calm and quiet, but inside his mind was racing. Should he do it? Could he do it? Was it worth losing Jack as a friend over not doing it? Was it worth damning him to an eternity of pain and remorse for saving billions of lives?

More importantly, what would Jack do if their roles were reversed?

And with that thought, he knew he'd do it, damn the consequences. Jack would give of himself until he had nothing left, would compromise whatever morals he had when a friend was hurting or in need. No matter what the answer was, the Doctor knew he was going to help Jack this time.

A faint smile passed over Jack's face. "I promised him he'd see the stars up close. That he'd get to meet you." He looked over into the Doctor's face. "That he'd love you."

"Let's not get our hopes up too high, Jack. I'm not perfect." But he was a pushover, and he knew it. "Bring them out. We'll put them in the TARDIS's medical bay and have her keep them stable for transport." It was going to take some programming and persuasion to get the ship to keep dead bodies stable, and the Doctor knew how much the TARDIS already disliked Jack, but he had to try.

Jack disappeared into the cargo bay of the ship and dragged out one body-shaped bag. He handed it to the Doctor, who began to drag it slowly across the open space to the TARDIS. Jack disappeared again and quickly emerged holding a smaller bag in his arms, cradling it close as he hurried to catch up. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it quickly and pursed his lips. Asking questions or extra favors right now was hardly appropriate, given what the Doctor was already doing for him.

The Doctor led Jack into the medical bay and laid both bodies on the beds. Ianto he recognized, and the Welshman looked too still. From the few times he had seen him, he had been in the background until it was time to say something important, but he had been thinking, working, always doing something. The only time the Doctor thought he ever truly was still was while he slept, and even then his mind would still be working. The other body was a small blond boy. Again, someone that should never be still was lying there in death. He connected leads to the bodies, and inserted some needles with some unidentifiable liquid.

"What's that?" Jack asked. He stood back by the door, holding back while the Doctor messed around with the bodies. He was acting strangely timid, not wanting to get too close to what was going on.

"It's a stabilization fluid. I'm filling their bodies with it so they won't start to decay, but at the same time it's not going to damage any of the tissues." He turned to look at Jack and felt a physical pain his chest at seeing his old friend so broken. "They didn't get anything on Earth, did they? No formaldehyde or alcohols?"

Jack shook his head. "Nothing. Airtight bags while they were in cargo, I took them out back in my ship." He turned and headed out the door, leaving the area. He couldn't handle seeing Ianto and Steven lying motionless, breathless. He stumbled back into the control room and curled up on the ground beside the control panel. Something inside of him had broken at seeing them, and he felt as though he had no control over his own body anymore. Sobs tore through his body. He wasn't just crying for Ianto and Steven, he was crying for Suzie, for Estelle, for Owen and Tosh, for Gray, for Rose and Jackie, and everyone else he'd lost over his thousands of years.

He didn't know how long he cried. The Doctor was nowhere to be found, but there was a calming song coming from somewhere around him. The sound drew him in, wrapped itself around him as he cried. It was in his head, it was wiping his tears from his cheeks, it was holding him tightly and comforting him. "I need them," he whispered between sobs. "I can't do this without him." Something in the tune resounded within him, calming him as he cried all his tears. After all his tears were gone, the song changed. His big gasping breaths slowed as something sang him to sleep, curled up right against the center console of the TARDIS.

The Doctor was wandering around the corridors. They were all changing on him, making it more difficult to get where he was trying to go, which was wherever Jack was. It wasn't like Jack to run away from anything, and he wanted to make sure that his friend was going to be okay. Once he realized that the TARDIS was keeping Jack from him, he decided to try to get to the control room so they could head off to Harboron to do what was necessary with Jack's friends. It wasn't something he was going to be proud of after it was done, but he could never turn Jack down for anything. He also wasn't able to get to his control room, which was frustrating him endlessly. Every time he turned down a corridor that should have taken him closer, he ended up farther away from where he was trying to go. "Stop it!" he commanded, not sure if his ship would listen to him or not.

After one more shift, it did stop changing things around on him, but in a way that left him ten minutes by walk from the control room. He shook his head. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I can't say I like it. Can you just take me back to Jack?" There was no response. Not that it was a surprise, the ship didn't usually answer him directly, but it usually led him to where he was trying to go directly, not leading him on a chase throughout the ship. "It really isn't funny. I need to make sure Jack's okay. And I need to get us to where we're going. Let me back to the control room." Still nothing. Giving up, he headed in the direction he knew the control room to be and began thinking about what he was going to have to diagnose for this problem.

When he arrived in the control room, he found Jack sleeping on the floor at the base of the central console. In his sleep, he looked peaceful, and the Doctor didn't want to disturb that peace, but he knew he'd have to move Jack at some point for his comfort. He picked the larger man up and dragged him to the side of the room, taking off his own jacket and rolling it up for Jack to use as a pillow. "Sleep well, Jack. I've got a few favors to call in before we can get your friends taken care of." He laid a gentle kiss atop Jack's head and turned around to head to Ballinore to talk to an old friend who owed him some favors.

Jack woke up to the smell of the Doctor and the sound of someone entering the room. Wondering what the Doctor was doing in Ianto's flat, he rolled over and felt the floor grating under his face. He groaned as everything came rushing back to him. The children, the deaths, and the traveling. He was in the TARDIS, and someone had been singing to him. Still feeling strangely groggy, and angry at himself for not being more alert, he stood up to come face to face with whoever was coming in.

"Ah, Jack, nice to see you're awake. I was hoping you'd be up. Sorry if I woke you, by the way." The Doctor was back to his usual self, flitting about the room as though he hadn't just been gone for several hours. He picked up his jacket and hung it over a handrail. "How was your nap?"

"Umm, great, I think. I don't really remember falling asleep." He blinked the tiredness out of his eyes and tried to remember the singing. He couldn't place the voice or the tune, and he wasn't even certain it had happened. Everything after he left the infirmary was just a little bit fuzzy. He remembered crying, but not much past that. "How did I get your jacket?"

The Doctor smiled and started changing the settings on the TARDIS. "You were curled up against the console. I dragged you to a safer place and left it for you as a pillow. Figured at your age you could use whatever comfort you could find." He smiled broadly at Jack, teasing. "I mean, I wouldn't fall asleep on the floor, but that's what you'll be at in a few hundred years, once you catch up."

Jack shot back a crooked smile. "Hate to burst your bubble, Doc, but I'm older than you are now. I spent a couple thousand years under Cardiff, buried alive. Show your elders some respect, yeah?" This was happening. The Doctor was taking him to bring them back. His precious cargo, the people he stole from their families, only to bring them back. This was Jack, always the dashing hero, always risking others while he couldn't be risked, but never letting it show. Letting the facade crack or slip could mean something worse than death for more people.

"What? You can't be older than me! I've got to be the oldest one. I was born first!" He stamped his foot on the floor for emphasis, but the effect was lost in Jack's laughter. "Stop it! I'm older!"

"You're acting like a child. Come on, kiddo, let's get the job done." As soon as he said it, he felt a pang of regret in his chest. He knew that he was just using the Doctor to get Steven back to his mother and Ianto back to himself, and then he'd run off again and not see him for another hundred years or so. He wouldn't ever be able to go back to Earth until Ianto had died either, but maybe, depending on which regeneration of the Doctor he found, he might be able to hitch a ride back to a few years after he left and still be a part of Gwen's life again. Maybe. Everything was getting all mucked up already, it was terrible.

"Yes, dad." The Doctor made a show of putting in all the coordinates slowly, double checking his work, before throwing a few switches and standing off in the corner pouting while the TARDIS did all the work. It was surprisingly a smooth ride, and the Doctor was immediately suspicious that she was trying to make up for something. He made a mental note to check out what was going on with her. "Come on, Jack, let's go get our loads." The tone in the control room was immediately somber. Jack nodded and followed him toward the infirmary silently.

The TARDIS had no problems getting them to the infirmary quickly, but the doors didn't open immediately when the Doctor approached them. He walked into them, reeling backwards in shock. "What the hell?" he shouted in surprise. "Leave the doors shut on me, will you?" Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, he stepped forward towards the door again, trying to unlock them. The only effect it seemed to have on the doors was to change the color and light them up a bit, they were still thoroughly locked when the Doctor tried to reach up and pry them open. "I take care of you for nine hundred years and this is the thanks I get? You're locking me out of my own infirmary? Fine, be that way." He turned and headed back to the hallway, muttering.

Jack watched the Doctor pass him and shook his head. "Come on, please?" he whispered to the air, stepping forward. As he approached, the doors opened for him easily. He stepped in, ready to shoulder Ianto's weight and call out to the Doctor when his voice disappeared in his throat. The vital signs monitors were showing that Ianto and Steven were both alive. He didn't even notice the doors shut behind him in his shock. "No, this isn't possible. You're both dead." With a thud, Jack fell to his knees between the beds, looking from one to the other.

The Doctor heard the doors open. He turned as quickly as he could, but they still closed before he could get to them. "Jack! Open the doors up again!" he shouted, pounding on the doors from the outside. Something was going on in there, something that his ship was a part of. If he couldn't trust his own ship or Jack, who in the universe could he trust? "Damn you, I will get in there. I'm going to figure out what's going on." He ran off down a corridor to get whatever supplies he could think of needing to force his way past whatever his ship had managed to throw against him and get into the infirmary.

Jack was still in shock on the floor. He stood and went to Ianto's side first, gently brushing some hair away from his face. "You're supposed to be dead. I was supposed to save you." He leaned over and gently kissed the younger man's lips. The warm breath against his mouth was quite possibly the best thing he had ever felt. Without taking a second glance at the monitors he lifted Ianto up, cradling him against his chest.

Ianto stirred slowly, coughing. Jack rubbed his back. "Easy, just catch your breath." He couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face. "You're okay now. It's alright." He buried his head into Ianto's hair, grateful for the simple scent of the man he loved.

"What happened, Jack?" Ianto asked, reaching up to hold on to him. He wasn't still in the room with the 456, he had been moved. Had he survived the gas? Was it really not poison after all? "Where are we?"

Jack changed his grip on Ianto so he could look him in the face. "What's the last thing you remember, Ianto?"

"You kissed me," Ianto said weakly. "There was poison in the air, everyone was going to die. I couldn't breathe, I was so scared. You kissed me, and I must have passed out. There was singing, I think, somewhere. Then, I woke up here with you holding me." He looked at Jack's face and could see all the stress on it. "What happened? Am I dead? Are we both dead, Jack?"

Despite his tears, Jack managed to laugh. "You honestly think it's that easy to kill me?" He sighed. "You were dead, Ianto. You're not. I don't know if it's like me or not, but you and Steven are both alive." He shook his head. "We're on the TARDIS. I somehow managed to convince the Doctor to take me to a place that specializes in...unethical medical practices, for lack of a better term."

There was a long silence in the room, neither man could hear the pounding or screaming from right outside the door. Ianto spoke first. "You were willing to risk your friendship with him just for me?"

"I would do anything for you," Jack whispered, pulling Ianto close against his chest again. "Never forget that." One hand reached up to run through Ianto's hair.

Ianto grabbed his hand in a tight grip, his other arm reaching around Jack's back. "I don't feel so good. Kind of dizzy, it just hit me."

Jack nodded and stood as still as he could. "Let me know when it passes. We'll lie you down and find out what's going on. It's gonna be okay. Everything will be fine."

Alarms began sounding from the monitors over Steven's bed moments before the doors slid open, revealing the Doctor holding a large hammer above his head. He dropped it and ran to the boy's side, looking over the monitors. "Jack, what the hell is going on in here?"

"I don't know. I came in and they were alive. Is he alright?" From his angle, Jack couldn't see what was going on behind him, what the Doctor was doing to his grandson. As he looked over his shoulder to see, Ianto's body went slack in his arms. "Ianto!" he shouted, easing him down onto the bed. "Come on, please don't do this to me, I just had you back."

"Jack, it's okay." The Doctor was injecting Steven with a large vial attached to a needle. It startled Jack a bit, seeing such a large device being used on a small body and leaving no injury behind, but he took in stride. "I'm not even going to ask about how they came back, but their bodies haven't had food or water in a while. He's just dehydrated and malnourished. I'm going to give each of them a supplement for it, and keep an eye on them." He followed the same injection procedure with Ianto before turning back to Jack. "They'll be alright."

Jack nodded slowly, adjusting Ianto's limbs so he wouldn't wake up with sore muscles. He turned back to the Doctor and nodded. "They will."

"I don't know how, but somehow I think my ship's behind this. What were you doing when you left the infirmary before you fell asleep?" asked the Doctor. Trying to lead Jack out of the infirmary at the moment would probably be more effort than it was worth, and leaving would just mean that he'd have to come back later to give his patients another injection.

"I cried. Ran to the control room and cried." Jack tried to remember what else he had done before falling asleep, if he had changed any of the controls, but all he remembered was the crying and the singing. "There was a voice, though. Someone was...singing to us. Ianto heard it too."

"What was it saying, Jack?" His voice was serious. "Do you remember what it said?"

"No...no words. Just a feeling that everything would be okay. That it was safe again. Then I fell asleep." He shook his head. "What was it?"

The Doctor thought for a moment. He had found Jack curled up on the floor beside...the panel that held the Heart of the TARDIS. He looked up at the ceiling. "Is that what this has all been about? Why you've been giving me the royal runaround?" There was no discernable answer that Jack could hear, but the Doctor seemed satisfied after a few seconds of silence. "We're having a talk after this. Trust me, it's a long time in coming too." He looked back at Jack. "My ship seems to have taken quite a liking to you. She brought them back, and kept me away from you so I wouldn't disturb you when you needed to be alone."

Jack's brow furrowed. "I thought...didn't you tell me that your ship couldn't stand me? I somehow remember a trip to the end of the universe on the outside, and while it was memorable, it wasn't exactly what I'd call fun."

The Doctor shrugged. "Who can say? I think Rose may have left a bit of herself in her, but it seems that since then she's accepted you. And you, being Jack, have once again charmed someone into doing something for you without even trying, it seems. Haven't I told you to stop flirting with everything you meet?" He grinned widely and held out his arms.

Relieved to finally understand what was going on, Jack stepped forward into the Doctor's arms, letting himself be supported by someone else. It felt so good to relax, not to have to be the strongest person around. "Thank you," he managed to say.

"You're more than welcome, Jack." The Doctor patted him on the back. "Now come on, you look like you still need some more rest. There's an empty bed in here, and it'll be a lot easier for me to keep an eye on the three of you together." He led Jack to an empty exam bed and laid him down. "I'm right nearby if you need anything," he said. Eventually, he stayed by Jack's side for half an hour while the man tossed and turned, until he was fully asleep.

\-------------------------

Epilogue

  
"That's right," Jack said. "His name is Steven Carter. Mother's name is Alice Carter."

"Who are you, again?" the doctor asked, as he looked at the young boy unconscious in the man's arms.

Jack hesitated only a fraction of a second. "Family friend. But I'm heading out on urgent business. Life and death. You know how it is, working for the government."

The doctor nodded, and pointed to an empty bed. Jack laid the boy down, slipping a note into his pocket that was for Alice to find. He leaned over his head and whispered into his ear. "Bye, Steven. I'll miss you. I love you so much." He stood, and while the emergency room doctor went to find a gown, Jack took his leave, walking with more confidence than he felt out of the hospital.

Ianto and the Doctor were waiting for him. "We'll wait for him to leave with his mother," Ianto said, going to stand beside Jack. Their hands twined together and Jack leaned against the door frame of the TARDIS. "You're doing the right thing, Jack."

"I know," Jack replied tersely. The right thing would have been not using Steven in the first place. The right thing would have been letting a grieving mother have her child's body, not steal it away under the guise of the government. The right thing was far from what he had done, but it was a step in the right direction.

Within ten minutes a frantic Alice ran into the hospital. Jack stood, rooted to the spot just inside the range of the chameleon circuit. Short of walking right into the TARDIS, nobody could see him, and that was the way he preferred it. Ianto stayed by his side, watching the main doors with his own intense curiosity. The Doctor stood behind them, peering between their heads to see what was happening.

"Come on," Jack muttered. "He was admitted unconscious, nothing was wrong with him, he should be awake by now. They should have him released already." Just as he was saying this, the three men saw Alice and Steven exiting the hospital. The boy looked somewhat confused, but was full of energy. Alice was scanning the parking lot and surrounding streets, looking for someone in particular. "Melissa, I'll always love you," Jack whispered. He took a breath and turned away from the door, facing Ianto and the Doctor. "So, Doc, are you ready to be done with us? I've still got that ship we left behind, it's got room for two. Ianto and I can stake out on our own, take time to explore a bit."

The Doctor smiled and led them back into the control room as Ianto shut the door. "I'm not so sure that's a great idea, Jack. It seems like when you're out on your own without proper adult supervision things tend to end up rather badly." He looked at Ianto and winked.

"Proper adult supervision?" Jack spluttered. "Do I need to remind you who here is the oldest? I think we've been over this a few times already."

"Oh, yes, you and your millenia of being buried underground or in cryostasis. That doesn't count! You weren't out living, getting any life experience. Age is accumulated wisdom from experience, not from philosophy gained under some pile of dirt!" The Doctor grinned, enjoying this chance to rile Jack a bit. "Besides, we've already been over the fact that I was born first!"

"Only by technicality. I can't help it that Gallifrey exists in Inner Time. You just can't stand the fact that you're not one of the oldest people you know anymore."

Ianto thoughtfully cleared his throat, somehow causing both men to stop their argument. "I think the fact that the two of you are still arguing about this means that neither of you is mature enough to act the oldest. Therefore, I'm the oldest. Now will you please drop it?"

Jack chuckled, which caused the Doctor to begin as well. Soon all three men were laughing as the Doctor punched a set of coordinates into the console. "Alright, it's time to go."


End file.
